The commercial, first spotted by The Verge, initially appears to mimic an Apple ad, complete with upbeat music and copious amounts of white space around the product. Things soon turn sour, however, as one notices the white iPad is not paired with the usual iPad mini, but instead a black tablet running Windows 8.

In the ad, titled "Less talking, more doing," Siri appears to be struggling with a few functions that are highlight features for Microsoft's Windows 8-running tablet. Live updating tiles, multitasking and powerpoint are mentioned as things Siri, and by proxy the iPad, can't do.

As a callback to Apple's ad from 2012, which first introduced the iPad mini, Siri says, "Should we just play Chopsticks?." The original Apple ad showed an iPad user playing "Heart and Soul" on a virtual piano in Garage Band, accompanied by the smaller iPad mini.

At the end of the commercial, pricing for each device is prominently displayed, in this case a $699 64-gigabyte iPad and a similarly equipped $449 Asus VivoTab Smart.

Keynote is just fine and I'm sure they tried to make it as unflattering as possible.

Multitasking in the same space as another app is a so-so feature if your apps save state then it isn't a big deal. There's not many cases where I, personally, would see myself absolutely needing this feature. For productivity tools sure that would be great.

It's interesting how Apple's iPad ads are very emotional. They show people using the device. Interacting with it. Being social with it. You see iPad users turn the display and have it immediately change. This is something you can't even do with Windows RT without going through about 20 total steps that include accessing the Classic Windows 8 UI so you can change the orientation. It's simply not designed to be used in portrait mode. I think that's a shortcoming that not only makes their whole "no compromises" between tablet and desktop laughable, but makes their whole attempt at a tablet OS laughable. I would have much rather seen Windows Mobile 8 made into a proper tablet OS over what I've seen with Windows RT.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ingela

Hate to say it, it's a great ad. Kudos to MS for finally hitting one out of the park.

The only way this is hitting one of the Park* is if you are saying this is on par with Samsung's attack on Apple. There are simply too many iPad users to see through this fares.

* Too esoteric? Park is the 3rd most common Korean surname.

This bot has been removed from circulation due to a malfunctioning morality chip.

Pretty good ad, showcases a few advantages that Windows 8 has in a clear and clever way.

Can't imagine Powerpoint being anywhere near as easy to use as that though, and it obviously skims straight over the fact that there aren't many apps out for the new Start screen yet. And if it was W8Pro then there should be a battery life warning and a fan kicking up noise in the background.

Nevertheless, well played Microsoft, a decent burn when you don't have much to work with.

The only way this is hitting one of the Park* is if you are saying this is on par with Samsung's attack on Apple. There are simply too many iPad users to see through this fares.

* Too esoteric? Park is the 3rd most common Korean surname.

This ad is not targeted at iPad users. It's targeted at Android tablet owners or those who have not made a choice yet, which remains the majority. So, I'd argue that they met their objective with a nice touch of levity and irony. The real irony, of course, is how the tables have been turned.

Hate to say it, it's a great ad. Kudos to MS for finally hitting one out of the park.

Hate to say it, your trolling skills aren’t too sharp I see...

"Out of the park" you say, but you provide absolutely no justificatory comments as to why this would be a "homer" - as if the ad by itself would be self-evident of that fact... but it’s not. This is a comparison advertisement using Apple’s aesthetics to try to steal a bit of Apple's thunder, and that hardly qualifies as "major league" stuff (to keep with your baseball reference). Their primary message is mostly, hey I’m just like an iPad (and if you would go so far as to believe me > even better). But for some reason I can’t seem to present myself to the world without mentioning (and even outright showing) an iPad.

"Out of the park" you say, but you provide absolutely no justificatory comments as to why this would be a "homer" - as if the ad by itself would be self-evident of that fact... but it’s not. This is a comparison advertisement using Apple’s aesthetics to try to steal a bit of Apple's thunder, and that hardly qualifies as "major league" stuff (to keep with your baseball reference). Their primary message is mostly, hey I’m just like an iPad (and if you would go so far as to believe me > even better). But for some reason I can’t seem to present myself to the world without mentioning (and even outright showing) an iPad.

Kind of pathetic if you ask me.

Kind of pathetic? You mean like "I am a Mac/I am a PC" kind of pathetic?

And, guess what, to some of us not wearing blinders, this commercial is indeed self-evident as a hit. Even if you disagree, he is entitled to his opinion, isn't he? Just as you're entitled to your blinders?

I think its a tasteful advert that is quite comparable to previous ones from Apple. While I have no desire to ever return to the world of Microsoft (10 years now), I think there are good aspects that will delight people who want to stay within the MS ecosystem. I think that this advert will help motivate those people.

Microsoft continues to think people want Office on their tablet devices. I have many friends associated with Microsoft and they still think Office is a "killer app". And it is for desktop, but for a tablet which is used for so many non-work related tasks, Office is just not that important. There are plenty of apps out there that can read Office formats if I need to review a document in flight. If Office was available for the iPad I would buy it, but I would not buy a tablet just to get Office. The bigger concern I have with Surface Pro is the terrible battery life and the lack of basic apps (i.e. Words with Friends).

This ad is not targeted at iPad users. It's targeted at Android tablet owners or those who have not made a choice yet, which remains the majority. So, I'd argue that they met their objective with a nice touch of levity and irony. The real irony, of course, is how the tables have been turned.

Good one about Park.

But are the majority going to care about the things MS highlighted in this ad?

But IS a 64GB iPad really comparable to the Windows RT tablet, which only has about 23GB of usable space? And why can't Microsoft get over the notion that we're all just waiting for a device on which to do "work"?

This ad is not targeted at iPad users. It's targeted at Android tablet owners or those who have not made a choice yet, which remains the majority. So, I'd argue that they met their objective with a nice touch of levity and irony. The real irony, of course, is how the tables have been turned.

Good one about Park.

I understand your point about MS targeting non-iPad users and surely there are more non-users than users, but the iPad is so common and well known that it's hard to see how anyone would look at this ad and say "I think I'll ignore everything I know about the iPad, believe all the things MS is telling me about it, and buy the Surface." When you start to compare and contrast the two devices MS's ad falls apart. It simply isn't very good in my opinion. Note that I've said that Samsung's ads are good in the past.

This bot has been removed from circulation due to a malfunctioning morality chip.

Kind of pathetic? You mean like "I am a Mac/I am a PC" kind of pathetic?

And, guess what, to some of us not wearing blinders, this commercial is indeed self-evident as a hit. Even if you disagree, he is entitled to his opinion, isn't he? Just as you're entitled to your blinders?

Blinders... I happen to have a PC (Win7) and use it relatively often (both for professional and recreational reason - i.e. gaming). But we are not acquainted, so yeah you can categorize me as a blind fanboy - but I’m not, sorry.

I do work in advertising though. And you might not be aware of it, but the "I’m a Mac" campaign is considered the pinnacle of comparison ads in recent history in the industry. Yes they compared the Mac and Windows platforms, but in a very original way (I would add fun and aesthetically pleasing as well, but that would make me a blind fanboy;).

The Windows8/Surface ad will never be shown and decorticated in university classes the way the I’m a Mac ads were (well Miscrosoft’s ad might be shown in class, but not necessarily in the kindest of fashion). No creative will go "gosh, I wish I had come up with this campaign" like for the I’m a Mac campaign. And lastly, these ads (if their is to be more than one) will be forgotten mere months after they have finished airing. Hardly the case of the I’m a Mac campaign.

Wow.. LOOK.. our device on the right looks more complicated and make people think you are smarter!! We will not bother showing you actual email client, web browsing, or the things you actually use everyday because this is still 1990s. We are also not going to show you how our device work in portrait mode because it only works this way.

Are people really dumb enough these days to be affected by this type of thing? It tastes like a used car ad, where the salesman is trying to convince you of something against your own understanding and perceptions of what's better. Such an out-of-date advertising style, well below the bar set by the reality of Apple's products.

And btw, I don't hear the Surface talking...so what's your point Microsoft?

In the end, this ad actually says more about how Microsoft views tablets than anything. They play chopsticks because that's all they know how to play. (And that pretty much describes them in more ways than one.)

"Why is it a great ad? The worst past is the person horribly mangling chopsticks or whatever it is at the end. I'm no pianist but even I could play it better than the person in the ad did."

Someone else beat me to it and agree, hope you're just fun'in and playing ignorant, but the lousy playing pianist paints the broader stroke of a lousy experience on the iPad. Kind of like the Mac vs PC ads where PC spins a Choose a Vista spinning wheel and hopes for something great and gets 'Lose a Turn' and the Mac dude says, "Wait, didn't you make this?" It's just MS finally getting an ad agency that has put forth a couple of mediocre commercials at Apple's expense, the Samsung/Apple feud during a wedding and now this. Don't take it too seriously. MS is still touting Microsoft products it has to peddle at all those cool and 'crowded' MS stores!

Ten years ago, we had Steve Jobs, Bob Hope and Johnny Cash. Today we have no Jobs, no Hope and no Cash.

lol. Easy there. He's not insulting your mother. Just sharing an opinion. It is possible to like competitor's ad.

Yeah sorry about that... But to call this ad "home run" kind of stuff without any justifications smells like blatant troll-spin to me. When I look at it objectively, I could understand some people calling this ad "OK" or "good", but not reasonably above that. It’s not going to make the ballots for advertisement awards come the end of the year...

"Why is it a great ad? The worst past is the person horribly mangling chopsticks or whatever it is at the end. I'm no pianist but even I could play it better than the person in the ad did."

Someone else beat me to it and agree, hope you're just fun'in and playing ignorant, but the lousy playing pianist paints the broader stroke of a lousy experience on the iPad. Kind of like the Mac vs PC ads where PC spins a Choose a Vista spinning wheel and hopes for something great and gets 'Lose a Turn' and the Mac dude says, "Wait, didn't you make this?" It's just MS finally getting an ad agency that has put forth a couple of mediocre commercials at Apple's expense, the Samsung/Apple feud during a wedding and now this. Don't take it too seriously. MS is still touting Microsoft products it has to peddle at all those cool and 'crowded' MS stores!

But GarageBand on the iPad isn't a lousy experience. If that was really their angle, why not show someone drawing/writing on Windows tablet vs iPad. That's an instance where the experience on iPad is not as good.

Just saw this during the NBA playoff game (Heat & Pacers) and gotta admit it was a little funny. I have no desire to get a MS Surface. The commercial does not make me want one either. But it was humorous........When you are number one like Apple is...the others will take their pot shots at you.....

Tallest Skil:

"Eventually Google will have their Afghanistan with Oracle and collapse" "The future is Apple, Google, and a third company that hasn't yet been created."

But IS a 64GB iPad really comparable to the Windows RT tablet, which only has about 23GB of usable space? And why can't Microsoft get over the notion that we're all just waiting for a device on which to do "work"?